Little did I know that the next time I'd hit a Mile Zero, I'd be smack dab in some of the most beautiful country, in the heart of the Austrian Rhine Delta:
Here's where it was on the map:
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Six Rivers Tour
8 years ago
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Mile Zero: The Austrian Rhine Delta
I started this blog with the idea that it would be cool to document where I find myself every one thousand miles. For those who are math or computer nerds, the term "Modulo" refers to a type of arithmetic where you divide the a number by that other number, and the remainder is the solution. For example "5001 MODULO 1000" is the number 1. So, "Mile Zero" is whenever I find myself hitting some multiple of 1000 on my bike computer. Like so (note the bike computer in the lower right):
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For the record, the Mile Zero I had was in front of Mac & Jack's Auto place on Bainbridge Island. Also a nice ride, but I liked this one even better...
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May 16, 2010 - Mammern to Rheinspitz
Estimated Mileage: 40 miles
Trip Map: http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=132322
Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/benkrok/May162010MammernToRheinspitz?feat=directlink
This was to be my final day of riding in Switzerland for a little while. I woke to the sound of the church ringing just across the street from me, and I started to count the rings to see what time it was. When it got to nine rings, I knew that I had slept in far too long, considering the ride ahead of me. Breakfast was included in the price of the room, and it was some ham, cheese, rolls, coffee and some muesli that the lady running the place told me was her speciality. Later, when I asked her where I can fill up my water bottles, she told me to go across the street, because the town fountain came straight from the mountains.
Here's what a good bit of the riding looked like today
Just long, beautiful stretches of dedicated bike lanes next to the water. The weather was misting/sprinkling most of the day, but it was warm enough that it didn't matter one bit. Mostly it just made the bike lanes empty for me.
The days are turning into a bit of a routine: get up, pack up, have coffee and breakfast, ride for a few hours, eat lunch, ride for a few hours, find a place to stay, have a beer, have some dinner, do some journalling and go to sleep. For example, here's my new standard breakfast and lunch:
I stayed the night at a place called the Rheinspitz ("Rhine Spit"), which is right at the border of Switzerland and Austria. Again, the place was meticulous, quiet, deserted and cheap. Here's where it is, to give you an idea of the geography.
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Trip Map: http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=132322
Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/benkrok/May162010MammernToRheinspitz?feat=directlink
This was to be my final day of riding in Switzerland for a little while. I woke to the sound of the church ringing just across the street from me, and I started to count the rings to see what time it was. When it got to nine rings, I knew that I had slept in far too long, considering the ride ahead of me. Breakfast was included in the price of the room, and it was some ham, cheese, rolls, coffee and some muesli that the lady running the place told me was her speciality. Later, when I asked her where I can fill up my water bottles, she told me to go across the street, because the town fountain came straight from the mountains.
Here's what a good bit of the riding looked like today
Just long, beautiful stretches of dedicated bike lanes next to the water. The weather was misting/sprinkling most of the day, but it was warm enough that it didn't matter one bit. Mostly it just made the bike lanes empty for me.
The days are turning into a bit of a routine: get up, pack up, have coffee and breakfast, ride for a few hours, eat lunch, ride for a few hours, find a place to stay, have a beer, have some dinner, do some journalling and go to sleep. For example, here's my new standard breakfast and lunch:
I stayed the night at a place called the Rheinspitz ("Rhine Spit"), which is right at the border of Switzerland and Austria. Again, the place was meticulous, quiet, deserted and cheap. Here's where it is, to give you an idea of the geography.
View Larger Map
From where I had dinner (schnitzel and pommes frites, thank you very much), you could look about 300 feet to your right and see the Austrian side of the Rhine. Besides myself, there was one other group of campers who didn't really seem very interested in making friends, despite my numerous waves, grins and various "Hallo!" and "Guten Abends!".
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Mile 952 (or so): Stein-am-Rhein to Rheinfall to Mammern
Didn't actually get very far in terms of circumnavigating the lake today, but took a trip out to the largest volume waterfall in Europe, the Rheinfall, right by the town of Schaffhausen.
Pulled into my destination of Mammern with every intention of camping for the night. After a bit of playing "Lost Foreigner Rides Back and Forth Through Town", I found the campsite, which was not only deserted, but rather grim looking. I ended up find of a guest house off of the main road named Gasthaus Hecht and got a room for only 50 Swiss Francs a night, with a share bathroom. Clean, quiet, with breakfast included. Highly recommended.
I also found out why everything is so deserted since I got here. Apparently, May 13 is the Ascension holiday (pronounced "Auf Hart" or something in German. I couldn't quite make out my host's answer). So that explains why it feels like I'm wandering through the set of Night of the Comet.
My impression of Switzerland after just two days is perfectly summed by this photo:
 |
| From May 15, 2010 - Stein-am-Rhein to Rheinfall to Mammern |
Here's a map of the approximate route. It was a 40 mile trip, with rolling hills most of the way. Again, the signage was amazingly clear, and took me through some beautiful streches of farmland as well as through the middle of old towns. Here's a slideshow of the trip.
I also found out why everything is so deserted since I got here. Apparently, May 13 is the Ascension holiday (pronounced "Auf Hart" or something in German. I couldn't quite make out my host's answer). So that explains why it feels like I'm wandering through the set of Night of the Comet.
My impression of Switzerland after just two days is perfectly summed by this photo:
What is that, you may ask? Why it's nothing more that a FREAKING PUBLIC PING PONG TABLE!!! Any country that provides this kind of service to their citizens is all right in my book. When I pay taxes in the US, I get disheartened to see where it goes (e.g. Wars, Roads, and the MacNeil Lehrer News Hour) but in Switzerland, they pay insanely high taxes for public ping pong tables. The next US politician that puts building these in America as part of his plank has my unconditional backing.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Mile 912: Morning on the Rhine
It's 47 degrees and chilly here on the banks of the Rhine river. Today I'm planning on taking it relatively easy and not going more than 30-40 miles. It's been a demanding last couple days, but a total hoot.
It started off at 3 in the morning, on Thursday. Caught a plane to Zurich, with a layover in Toronto. For all the US bike tourists out there, I recommend Air Canada simply by virture of the fact that the surcharge for bicycles is only $50, compared to upwards of $300 on some of the other airlines.
The bike arrived in one piece:
I put it together with just a couple of minor glitches (all of them my fault). Thanks again to Paul and the folks at Classic Cycle on Bainbridge for helping me learn how to do this. Here's a snap of the re-assembled Chump Steamroller, ready to tackle Europe.
The ride out of the airport was a little confusing. I stopped and asked a few different folks where to pick up bike route. I was finally pointed to the Cloten train station where the bike signage became extremely obvious.
The signage for this route was jaw-dropping. Once I got the hang of the color of the sign, I would see them everywhere, at least every half-mile or so. Even I, who am completely directionally disabled, found my way there.
In terms of riding difficulty, it wasn't anything out of the ordinary except for one steep climb right at the border between the Zurich and Thurgau cantons. It was about 30-40 minutes of straight climbing up to the town of Neunforn. When the route started heading north, there were a couple of these climbs up and over hills that took you into the next river valley. Here's a rough map of the route. This is by no means an accurate route, just a rough idea of which towns I went through. It took me about 4 hours to complete, because I got lost for a while at the beginning. I don't know how many exact miles it was because I didn't have my trip computer snapped in.
My first impression of the Swiss countryside is that it is simply the most immaculate farmland I ever seen. It's like swarms of Gap Store employees are swarming the countryside, putting everything away. Every woodpile is stacked like an Escher print: perfectly tesselated.
I pulled into my campground right around 6:30, rang for the camp host. He sent me down to the tent camping site, right by the Rhein (Rhine) river, which I had all to myself.
Had a dinner of schnitzel and beer. There's lots of falcons overhead, so there's the inevitable local brew named after them.
It got to around 40 degrees at night. Chilly, but not too bad. I came prepared, but my warm weather pants got wet on the plane. I didn't think your luggage could get wet when you checked it in, but there it is. Luckily, it's the only piece of clothing that got damp. If I had been able to wear them, the night would've been extremely cozy.
So now I'm off around the lake. Also, I forgot to bring an power plug adapter, so I've got about 2-3 days of laptop batter left before I'll be cut off from the rest of the world.
Oh, and here's a link to all of the photos from yesterday:
http://picasaweb.google.com/benkrok/May142010ZurichToSteinAmRhein
It started off at 3 in the morning, on Thursday. Caught a plane to Zurich, with a layover in Toronto. For all the US bike tourists out there, I recommend Air Canada simply by virture of the fact that the surcharge for bicycles is only $50, compared to upwards of $300 on some of the other airlines.
The bike arrived in one piece:
 |
| From May 14, 2010 - Zurich to Stein-am-Rhein |
I put it together with just a couple of minor glitches (all of them my fault). Thanks again to Paul and the folks at Classic Cycle on Bainbridge for helping me learn how to do this. Here's a snap of the re-assembled Chump Steamroller, ready to tackle Europe.
The ride out of the airport was a little confusing. I stopped and asked a few different folks where to pick up bike route. I was finally pointed to the Cloten train station where the bike signage became extremely obvious.
The signage for this route was jaw-dropping. Once I got the hang of the color of the sign, I would see them everywhere, at least every half-mile or so. Even I, who am completely directionally disabled, found my way there.
In terms of riding difficulty, it wasn't anything out of the ordinary except for one steep climb right at the border between the Zurich and Thurgau cantons. It was about 30-40 minutes of straight climbing up to the town of Neunforn. When the route started heading north, there were a couple of these climbs up and over hills that took you into the next river valley. Here's a rough map of the route. This is by no means an accurate route, just a rough idea of which towns I went through. It took me about 4 hours to complete, because I got lost for a while at the beginning. I don't know how many exact miles it was because I didn't have my trip computer snapped in.
My first impression of the Swiss countryside is that it is simply the most immaculate farmland I ever seen. It's like swarms of Gap Store employees are swarming the countryside, putting everything away. Every woodpile is stacked like an Escher print: perfectly tesselated.
I pulled into my campground right around 6:30, rang for the camp host. He sent me down to the tent camping site, right by the Rhein (Rhine) river, which I had all to myself.
Had a dinner of schnitzel and beer. There's lots of falcons overhead, so there's the inevitable local brew named after them.
It got to around 40 degrees at night. Chilly, but not too bad. I came prepared, but my warm weather pants got wet on the plane. I didn't think your luggage could get wet when you checked it in, but there it is. Luckily, it's the only piece of clothing that got damp. If I had been able to wear them, the night would've been extremely cozy.
So now I'm off around the lake. Also, I forgot to bring an power plug adapter, so I've got about 2-3 days of laptop batter left before I'll be cut off from the rest of the world.
Oh, and here's a link to all of the photos from yesterday:
http://picasaweb.google.com/benkrok/May142010ZurichToSteinAmRhein
Mile ???: All is well
Tonight I'm camping on the banks of the Rhine, listening the burbling of authentic Swiss river water at this campsite. I'm way too pooped after almost 40 hours of car/airplane/bicycle travel to write anything substantial, but I've got lots of pictures to post first thing in the morning. Switzerland is a paradise for a long distance biker...
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Mile 912: Next Stop: Zurich!
All the months of planning, purchasing, researching, investigating lead up to tomorrow. Holy Smokes. How exciting....
The last week has been both hectic and relaxed, in turns. I've been to Vegas, won a few bucks, baby-sat, dog-sat, rode my bike, packed, un-packed, re-packed again. Preparations are complete. It's time to Do It
For those wanting to know where I'm going, here are some trip plans for the first four legs of the trip, which take me to Vienna:
Leg 1: Zurich and the Bodensee
Leg 2: Bodensee to the source of the Danube
Leg 3: The Danube
Leg 4: Vienna to Prague
For those interested to see what I'm bringing, check out my complete Pre-trip Inventory.
For those who want to keep in touch while I'm away, here's my official "Get in Touch With Ben" page.
Next Stop: Zurich!
The last week has been both hectic and relaxed, in turns. I've been to Vegas, won a few bucks, baby-sat, dog-sat, rode my bike, packed, un-packed, re-packed again. Preparations are complete. It's time to Do It
For those wanting to know where I'm going, here are some trip plans for the first four legs of the trip, which take me to Vienna:
Leg 1: Zurich and the Bodensee
Leg 2: Bodensee to the source of the Danube
Leg 3: The Danube
Leg 4: Vienna to Prague
For those interested to see what I'm bringing, check out my complete Pre-trip Inventory.
For those who want to keep in touch while I'm away, here's my official "Get in Touch With Ben" page.
Next Stop: Zurich!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Mile 867: The Burke-Gilman Trail (and bonus cuteness)
I moved out of the Hovel last Friday and in with my sister and her family for the next week or so. My niece and nephew are empirically the cutest kids on the planet, so it's been a blast hanging out. Quite a change from poring over maps of Europe alone on an island. But a welcome change. Compare my view before last Friday:
Here's my view after last Friday:
So, I've been packing and re-packing my bags, buying the last bits of gear and generally taking it easy. I've gone on one longish ride, 38 miles around Seattle on the Burke-Gilman. But it almost doesn't count since it was mostly flat. I realize that when there's no hills, I can go pretty fast: around 16-18 miles an hour.
I'd never ridden the Burke-Gilman before, and it was really a wonderful ride, if a bit crowded. Here are some pics (with captions) of the ride around Seattle:
Here's my view after last Friday:
So, I've been packing and re-packing my bags, buying the last bits of gear and generally taking it easy. I've gone on one longish ride, 38 miles around Seattle on the Burke-Gilman. But it almost doesn't count since it was mostly flat. I realize that when there's no hills, I can go pretty fast: around 16-18 miles an hour.
I'd never ridden the Burke-Gilman before, and it was really a wonderful ride, if a bit crowded. Here are some pics (with captions) of the ride around Seattle:
My inventory is nearly complete, and I'm going to try and do a full pre-trip inventory so that I can look back and laugh at my naiveté when I do my post-trip inventory.
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